Theoretical background
Turner et al.'s (1987) self-categorization theory holds that when people categorize themselves as group members rather than individuals, they become depersonalized and see themselves in terms of the group prototype. Taking on the ingroup's typical traits as one's own is self-stereotyping. Hogg and Turner (1987) showed experimentally that when an intergroup context was made salient, participants described themselves in more gender-stereotypical terms. This complements social identity theory at the cognitive level.
Context and motivation
Simon and Hamilton (1994) showed that self-stereotyping is especially strong when the ingroup is a minority with high status. Spears et al. (1997) reported that when group status or distinctiveness is threatened, highly identified people increase self-stereotyping while weakly identified people reduce it. Sinclair et al. (2006) found that people self-stereotype in line with whichever identity they sense others expect. This situational dependence connects with research on stereotype boost and threat.
Distinction from self-anchoring
Latrofa et al. (2010) treated self-stereotyping as transferring the group representation to the self and analyzed its cognitive representation. Van Veelen et al. (2016) proposed two pathways to group identification: self-stereotyping, running from group to self, and self-anchoring, projecting one's own traits onto the group. Self-anchoring may dominate in new groups or when group information is scarce, and self-stereotyping in established or salient groups. Reading it alongside the ingroup projection model clarifies the difference.
FAQ
- What is self-stereotyping in simple terms?
- It is taking the image "our group is like this" and applying it to yourself as "so I am like this too."
- Is it always bad?
- Not necessarily. It can support group cohesion and cooperation, but it also risks internalizing negative stereotypes.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell. Foundational text of self-categorization theory.
- Hogg, M. A., & Turner, J. C. (1987). Intergroup behaviour, self-stereotyping and the salience of social categories. British Journal of Social Psychology, 26(4), 325–340. Early experiment linking category salience to self-stereotyping.
- Simon, B., & Hamilton, D. L. (1994). Self-stereotyping and social context: The effects of relative in-group size and in-group status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(4), 699–711. Effects of ingroup size and status.
- Spears, R., Doosje, B., & Ellemers, N. (1997). Self-stereotyping in the face of threats to group status and distinctiveness: The role of group identification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(5), 538–553. Identification moderates self-stereotyping under threat.
- Sinclair, S., Hardin, C. D., & Lowery, B. S. (2006). Self-stereotyping in the context of multiple social identities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(4), 529–542. Shared reality and multiple identities in self-stereotyping.
- Latrofa, M., Vaes, J., Cadinu, M., & Carnaghi, A. (2010). The cognitive representation of self-stereotyping. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(7), 911–922. Cognitive representation of self-stereotyping.
- van Veelen, R., Otten, S., Cadinu, M., & Hansen, N. (2016). An integrative model of social identification: Self-stereotyping and self-anchoring as two cognitive pathways. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(1), 3–26. Integrative model contrasting self-stereotyping and self-anchoring.